Share on PinterestThe Texas law, also called “the heartbeat bill,” bans abortions at 6 weeks of pregnancy throughout the state.Clinics hundreds of miles from Texas are reporting an increase in calls for appointments.Telehealth clinics say they have had more people request emergency contraception.
On September 1, the most restrictive abortion care law to date — S.B.8 — went into effect in Texas.
The law, also called “the heartbeat bill,” bans abortions at 6 weeks of pregnancy throughout the state of Texas.
It also allows individual citizens to sue anyone they believe has helped a patient get an abortion, like the abortion provider, abortion-rights activists, or friends and family members.
Since going into effect, people in Texas who learn they’re pregnant and wish to end their pregnancy have been left with few options. Many are scared and confused about when and how they can seek abortion care.
Planned Parenthood health centers — both in Texas and neighboring states like Missouri and Illinois — are experiencing an influx of calls from people asking about when and where they can receive abortion care, according to a spokesperson from Planned Parenthood.
Abortion care workers, from physicians and nurses to administrative staff and lawyers, in and around Texas are mobilized and dedicated to helping women get the care they need.
“Nothing about this law is going to deter Texans who are providing abortion care from continuing to fight to bring back what people in that community deserve, which is access to that care locally,” Dr. Colleen McNicholas, the Chief Medical Officer at the Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, told Healthline.
What’s happening in neighboring states
McNicholas said her clinic in Illinois has seen an increase in people inquiring about abortion care even though Texas is hundreds of miles away.
They’ve already begun to see some people — many of whom have crossed a few state lines — as the states directly neighboring Texas already have limited access to abortion care and a web of restrictions that can delay care for people.
“When you factor in the multiplicity of all these different factors — the law, gestational age, restriction requirements in states, and then even just the availability of providers in those states, it doesn’t take very long to be looking to Southern Illinois as a place, as it might be the most expeditious to get that kind of care,” McNicholas said.
It’s also coupled by the patients from Louisiana who are seeking care in the wake of the devastation from Hurricane Ida.
“When any kind of abortion or restriction is passed, there is so much confusion on the ground, that oftentimes, patients can’t figure out what are the nuances of the care they can access in their own community, and it’s sometimes just easier to leave the community,” McNicholas said.
What online pharmacies are seeing
NURX, an online birth control provider, has noticed more people from Texas have ordered emergency contraception since the Texas ruling.
Kiki Freedman, the CEO of Hey Jane, a company that ships abortion care medications, said they’ve seen a 300 percent increase in patients seeking care from August to September.
The abortion community is mobilizing to help women in Texas access care in neighboring states.
“We’re working overtime to launch in New Mexico and Colorado in the coming weeks so that we can help provide care to anyone who needs it there — including those traveling in from Texas,” said Freedman.
Another popular telehealth abortion care provider, Choix, is also working quickly to expand abortion care services to Texas’ neighbors, Colorado and New Mexico.
“We have learned from our colleagues that clinics in border states and beyond are overwhelmed by patient calls for abortion services. Our goal is to help patients safely have an abortion in these states, by using Choix’s platform, without them having to make an appointment at a clinic,” Cindy Adam, the co-founder of Choix, told Healthline.
Aid Access, an online group focused on providing women with online reproductive care, can provide prescriptions for medical abortions up to 10 weeks and can give these medications to women to have on hand for the future in case they would like a medical abortion.
Are any MDs planning on leaving the state?
As of now, there does not seem to be an exodus of abortion care professionals leaving the state of Texas.
“For those of us in abortion care, we are so accustomed to having to help people navigate these sorts of things that this is just another, sort of, layer for us in helping folks feel safe and secure in accessing that care outside of Texas,” McNicholas said.
S.B.8 is not going to deter Texans from continuing to fight for people to access abortion care in their own communities.
“The broader community has been fighting this fight for a long time and [is] not going to give up,” said McNicholas.
This work isn’t new. What’s new is the volume of patients that the medical community will have to help navigate the new hoops, said McNicholas.
Many organizations have set up abortion funds to help people in Texas finance a trip to a neighboring state and find abortion care.
What might the future effects be?
Though there haven’t been any reports of pregnant people or their contacts being sued for seeking out abortion care, the threat is there.
“It will have and has had a chilling effect on abortion provision in the state without any lawsuits actually getting filed,” said Amanda Stevenson, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Reproductive health specialists say that Texas is the first — but it won’t be the last state to pass this type of law.
Florida, Arkansas, and South Dakota are already discussing similar bans like S.B.8, according to Planned Parenthood.
New research from University of Colorado Boulder, authored by Stevenson, found that abortion bans are linked to an increase in maternal mortality, especially among Black women who are more likely to face serious complications during pregnancy.
Staying pregnant is riskier to a woman’s health than having an abortion, according to Stevenson.
Stevenson said it will take time to detect the increase in pregnancy-related deaths.
“This is because abortion occurs early in pregnancy, but the risk of death is concentrated late in pregnancy. When abortions are denied, it will take about a year before the actual count of pregnancy-related deaths increases due to the ban,” Stevenson said.
The bottom line
Since going into effect on September 1, Texas’ new restrictive abortion law (S.B.8) bans abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy.
Already, clinics in neighboring states are seeing an uptick in Texas-based patients inquiring about care.
Telehealth abortion care providers are seeing the same and are quickly expanding access to nearby states to help pregnant people in Texas get care. Researchers expect maternal mortality to increase as a result of the ban, and for other states to follow Texas’ footsteps.
Source link : https://www.healthline.com/health-news/what-has-happened-in-texas-since-abortion-law-went-into-effect
